Cathead supports



A\18 13, 1968 F. A. DAVIDSON, JR.. ETAL 3,396,498

CATHEAD SUPPORTS 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed March '7, 1967 Aug. 13, 1968 F.A. DAVIDSON, JR.. ETAL CATHEAD SUPPORTS 5 Sheets-.Sheet 2 Filed March 7,1967 E TAM WR m Ira A Aug. 13, 1968;: F. A. DAVIDSON, JR., ETAL.

CATHEAD SUPPORTS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed March United States Patent O3,396,498 CATHEAD SUPPORTS Frederic A. Davidson, Jr., New Rochelle, andRoger D.

Schlage, Brooklyn, N.Y., assignors to Hal-sco Corporation, Wormleysburg,Pa.

Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 518,052, Jan. 3, 1966. Thisapplication Mar. 7, 1967, Ser. No. 621,302

4 Claims. (Cl. 52-123) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A cathead supportingstructure for a skeleton panel type `tower wherein a hoisting machinerycarrier rests on beams which are releasably mounted between uprights orposts of constituent panels at opposite sides .of a tower section. Endportions of said beams rest on peripheral flanges of sprockets orconnecting pins interposed between the panel posts of a lower towersection and those of the next higher section. Means are provided forreleasably maintaining each beam against displacement in relation to theposts with which the end portions are operatively engaged.

This application is a continuation-impart of our copending applicationSer. No. 518,052, tiled Jan. 3, 1966.

The present invention relates to cathead supporting apparatus havingspecial yutility in the erection and operation of material hoistingtowers commonly of tubular metal skeleton construction.

Known types of material hoisting towers employ an element known as acathead which is functionally a carrier or mount for sheaves arranged tosupport and guide a cable operatively connected to raise and lower acage or the like within the tower. Ordinarily, such a carrier spans thetower transversely and is removably supported at its ends on beams, oneat each side of the tower. Such beams have been relatively heavy ascompared to the tubular skeleton frame elements of the tower and haverequired clamps, bolts, etc. to hold them in position, thus materiallyincreasing the diiiculties, time and labor costs in erecting anddismantling the tower structure.

An .object of the present invention, among others, is to provide catheadsupport means which may be adequately strong yet of relatively lightweight, which can be emplaced in the structure and removed at minimalexpense of time and labor, and which can readily be moved from oneposition to another as the erecting or dismantling operations require.

Cathead support apparatus according to our invention is advantageouslyemployed in connection with a hoisting tower, for example, as describedand shown in said pending application and comprising in general avertical array of substantially similar superimposed sectionsadvantageously of prefabricated two dimensional units or panels.

Each of these may conveniently include a tubular post or upright, asleeve, and appropriate converging transverse and diagonal bracesconnecting said post and sleeve to form a unit of generally triangularplan. In a typical tower section incorporating these units opposite sidepanels thereof are assembled on the job and interconnected by an endpanel. Panels of one of these sections are releasably joined at thesection corners to panels of vertically adjacent sections by adapters,or sprockets, which are, in effect, connecting .pins each convenientlyincluding an elongated shank and, at an intermediate portion thereof, acoaxial peripheral flan-ge. Thus, in operation, each said flange restson top of the post of a lower panel with the lower end of the sprocketshank, i.e., below said iiange, extending or telescoping into the openend of said lower panel post while the upper end of said shank,

3,396,498 Patented Aug. 13, 1968 lice i.e. above said ange, extends ortelescopes into the open lower end of a coaxially related post of thenext higher panel.

In practice, the relatively light transverse braces of the panel unitsare not designed to sustain substantial loading across theirmidportions, so that more rugged transverse elements, as structuralbeams are required to support the cathead and the operating parts andloads carried thereby.

In general, our invention resides in cathead supporting apparatuscomprising a structural beam removably mounted between the spaceduprights or posts of a tower section and having at each end a pair ofterminal longitudinally extending arms, end portions of which embraceportions of said posts and rest in operative position on a bearingprovided by a peripheral flange extending radially from an intermediateportion of a connecting pin the ends of which are operativelytelescoped, respectively, in the opposed open ends of coaxially arrangedposts. Means are included for releasably securing the ends of said beamto said posts and thus holding itin operative cathead sustainingposition.

Other objects and distinctive features of our invention will appear inthe following specification, claims and appended drawings wherein wehave described, claimed and illustrated a preferred embodiment of saidinvention thereby to aid others in understanding its principles so thatthey ,can practice it in any manner best suited to the conditions of aparticular use.

In said drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a building side or end elevation of a portion of a hoistingtower showing cathead supporting devices operatively interposed, ineffect, between vertically adjoining tower sections.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of a portion of the tower of FIGURE 1, withelements of the cathead and its supporting apparatus shown on enlargedscale.

FIGURE 3 is a transverse -section from the line 3-3 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a detail on enlarged scale in transverse section showing theremovable transverse beam and its connection with the posts or uprightsof a tower.

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary detail on enlarged scale in vertical sectionfrom the line 5-5 of FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 6 is a detail view in elevation of one form of connecting pin orsprocket conveniently usable as a vertical interconnection betweencoaxially arranged posts of vertically adjoining tower panels and as abearing for supporting the ends of the transverse beams seen in FIG-URES 3 and 4.

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary View on enlarged scale and partly in centralvertical section showing one end of the transverse beam, FIGURE 4,resting on the ange of a connecting pin of the kind shown in FIGURE 6and releasably secured to one of the posts.

FIGURE 8 is a view in perspective of the transverse beam portions ofwhich are shown in FIGURES 3, 4 and 5.

FIGURE 9 is a top plan view with parts broken away and parts inhorizontal section showing a structural beam as initially positioned forplacement in the tower structure.

Referring to the drawings, an embodiment of our i-nvention includes acathead assembly wherein sheaves 10 and 11, and cable 12 are mounted ona cathead carrier beam 13 which, as seen in FIGURE 2, may advantageouslycomprise spaced channel beams with said sheaves 10 and 11 mounted torotate between them. End portions of the carrier beams rest oninter-mediate parts of transverse structural beams 14, FIGURE 8, one ateach side of the tower section in which the cathead is to be located. Toattain the desired advantages in use and handling, each beam 14 isprovided at its ends with pairs of terminal longitudinally extendingarms 15, 15a arranged with their outer end portions spaced apart andeach pair forming in effect a terminal yoke.

To provide temporary supporting elements in the tower structure for eachsuch structural beam -14, two connecting pins, or sprockets 16, FIGURES4, 6 and 7, are mounted therein at the desired level, each having anupper shank portion 16a, a lower shank portion 16b and a peripheral ange17 between said shank portions. One such pin having the peripheral ange17, for example, is positioned in use, FIGURE 7, with its upper shankportion 16a shown dotted telescoped in the lower end of a tubular post18 and its lower shank portion 16b telescoped in the top end of thetubular post 19 of a lower tower section. This arrangement is such thatflange 17 rests on the top edge of post 19; and the bottom edge of post18, FIGURE 5, rests on the top surface bearing of ange 17. As seen inFIGURE 5, the bearings provided by llanges 17 also support the yokes orarms 15, 15a and hence the structural transverse beams 14 which betweenthem support composite beam 13 of the cathead carrier.

As indicated in FIGURES and 8, the arms 15, 15a at the ends of beams 14are connected as by ywelding to cross plates 20, 20a advantageouslysecured by welding to the ends of said beam. It is noted that the bottomedge of each cross plate 20, 20a is substantially ush with the bottomedges of the arms 15, a secured thereto and that the plane of saidbottom edges is offset downwardly from the plane of the bottom surfaceof beam 14. Also, the inner edge as 21, 21a, of each plate 20, 20a,FIGURE 3, extends laterally beyond the inner edges of beam 14; and, asseen in FIGURES 5 and 8, the top edges of plates 20, a extend abo-ve theplane of the top surface of beam 14. When said beam 14 is in operativeposition with its end arms supported on ilanges 17 and spanning posts18, it is conveniently releasably secured in operative position, as bybolts 22 operatively engaging said yoke arms 15, 15a.

When it is desired to incorporate a cathead and supporting apparatusembodying the present invention at a given level in a hoisting tower asabove described and wherein the superimposed sections of the skeletonstructure have reached that level, the lower ends of said connectingpins 16 are inserted, i.e., telescoped in the open top ends of thecorner posts. It is noted that, for this special purpose, the anges ofthese pins 16 are advantageously wider than the flanges of pins employedprimarily in connecting vertically adjoining sections wherein no catheadis to be mounted.

With pins 16 in place, the panels of the next higher section areerected. This brings posts 18 of such a section into the positions asseen in FIGURE 2. To emplace a beam 14, it is brought initially to aposition with said spaced arms 15 at one end, right, for example, FIGURE9, embracing post 18, with their bottom edges resting on the top orbearing surface `of a flange 17 and with the outer face of plate 20bearing against post 18. The left end of beam 14 is now at one side ofthe opposite post 18 which is to be engaged by yoke arms 15a. To bringsaid yoke arms into operative relation to post 18 and ange 17 at theleft, FIGURE 4, the left end of beam 14 is deflected or swung suicientlyin a direction such that arms 15a come into a position to straddle post18 and rest on flange 17. Beam 14 is now moved axially to the leftsuiciently to reposition plates 20, 20a in substantially equi-spacedrelation to -posts 18, or so that bolts 22 may be passed through theopposed holes in arms 15 and 15a, respectively, and secured with theirShanks extending between the posts 18 and opposed faces of said plates20 and 20a, FIGURE 4. This arrangement in effect provides a yoke at eachend of beam 14 and at the same time bolts 22 cooperate with posts 18 tolimit endwise displacement of the beam from its operative catheadsupporting position.

In a case 'where the cathead assembly is to be moved to a higher levelin the tower, similar preparatory placing of another set of pins 1'6 andbeams 14 will take place at the desired higher level. The boltsconnecting the yoke arms at each end of each beam 14 will be removed,and said beam will be displaced endwise to the right, for example, sothat the arms 15a at the opposite end may be disengaged from post 18after which arms 15 will also be freed from opposite lower level post.Said beams are now conveniently repositioned at the higher level withsaid yoke arms resting on the anges of another set of pins andstraddling a higher placed pair of posts, said first set of pinsadvantageously being left in position for convenience in case thecathead is later to be shifted to that lower position in the tower.

We claim:

1. Cathea-d support structure -for hoisting towers olf the type whereinan array of vertically adjoining sections each include side and endpanels and each panel constituting an integral unit comprising anupright tubular post at -one side, a sleeve at the opposite side, atransverse brace and a diagonal brace connecting said post yand saidsleeve, said support structure including at the level between sectionsin the tower two connecting pins each having a shank and a angeextending vradially from an intermediate portion of its shank, the upperend of the shank of one of said pins being engaged coaxially in thelower end of a post of a next higher panel Iand the lower end of saidshank being engaged coaxially in the upper end of the post of the lowerpanel adjoining said higher panel, said flange of said rst pin beingpositioned to lrest on the upper end of the post of said lower panel andto support the lower end of the post of said higher panel, the upper endof the shank of the other of said pins being engaged coaxially in thelower end of the post of another vertically adjoining lhigher panel andthe lower end of the shank of said other of said pins being engagedcoaxially in the sleeve of one lower panel Iand in the upper end of thepost of another panel in the same tower section, said -ange OEE thesecond mentioned pin being lpositioned to rest on the upper end of thesleeve of said lower panel and to support the lower end -of the post ofa higher panel in another section of the tower, and a structural beamprovided with end yokes each comprising spaced arms extendinglongitudinally from its opposite ends, said yokes being positioned torest on the anges of said pins land to embrace vertical lower endportions of posts `of laterally adjoining panels in the same section,and means cooperating with said yokes and :arranged and adapted toreleasably secure said beam in operative cathead supporting positionbetween the posts of said laterally Iadjoining panels.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 and wherein said beam supporting meansincludes a stop member releasably supported on and extending between the,opposed arms of each yoke and in operative relation to said posts tolimit endwise displacement of the beam.

3. Cathead supporting structure -for use in hoisting towers of :the typewherein laterally interconnected component panels are arranged in anarray of vertically adjoining and interconnected tower sections, eachsaid panel including a vertical tubular post, two connecting pins eachoperatively engaged coaxially in vertically -adjoining posts and eachhaving a peripheral ange interposed between the bottom end of the postof a higher panel and the top end of a post `of a lower panel andextending radially beyond said posts to provide a bearing coaxialtherewith, a structural beam removably mounted between said pins andhaving spaced arms extending longitudinally beyond its opposite ends andpositioned with end portions resting on said bearings, and meansoperatively engaged between said beam and said posts to releasablysecure the beam in operative c-athead supporting relation to saidbearings and posts.

4. Cathead supporting `apparatus for hoisting tower having spacedupright posts and including a structural beam having laterally spacedarms providing yokes `having open end portions secured to iand extendinglongitudinally'l axially beyond its opposite ends, and means operativelyarranged and releasably securing said open end portions of said yokes instraddling relation to said posts and to limit endwse displacement ofthe beam in relation to said posts, said means including stop membersremovably supported on and extending transversely between the arms ofsaid yokes and operatively positioned axially 4between said posts andsaid opposite ends of the Ebeam, means supporting said beam on saidposts independently of said stop members.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/1946 3/1951 10/1958 5/l96l1l/l964 2/1967 Heaphy et al. 182r-l78 XR 10 FRANK L. ABBOTT, PrimaryExaminer.

P. C. FAW, Assistant Examiner.

